modality N4 common casualpolite
〜みたい — like ~
〜みたい
Builds on 〜みたいに・〜みたいな
Meaning
① conjecture from evidence: it seems / looks like ~ — a guess the speaker draws from what they notice (casual)
② resemblance: like ~ / just like ~ — likens one thing to another
Key sentence
① conjecture from evidence
雨が降ったみたい。
It looks like it rained.
② resemblance
あの雲、犬みたい。
That cloud is like a dog.
Formation
| Attaches to | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| noun | N + みたい (no の) | 犬みたい / 天使みたい |
| plain verb / i-adjective | V/A(plain) + みたい | 降ったみたい / 高いみたい |
| na-adjective | na-adj (drop だ) + みたい | 静かみたい |
Variants
みたいです / みたいに・みたいな — In polite speech the copula surfaces as みたいです; the adverbial/adnominal forms are みたいに・みたいな (see 〜みたいに・〜みたいな).
Examples
① conjecture from evidence
外が静かだね。みんなもう帰ったみたい。
It's quiet outside. Looks like everyone's already gone home.
田中さん、今日は来ないみたいです。
It seems Tanaka isn't coming today.
② resemblance
彼の部屋はゴミ箱みたいだ。
His room is like a trash can.
もう四月なのに冬みたいに寒い。
It's already April, but it's cold like winter.
When you can't use it
- Unlike ようだ, みたい attaches **directly** to a noun or na-adjective — no の, no な. 天使みたい, never ✗天使のみたい; 静かみたい, never ✗静かなみたい.
Easily confused with
ようだ みたい is the casual spoken form of ようだ for both senses (雨が降ったみたい = 降ったようだ). ようだ is neutral-to-written; みたい sounds conversational. そうだ (hearsay) みたい = the speaker's own inference from what they observe; 伝聞の そうだ = secondhand report ('I hear ~'). 降ったみたい = it looks like it rained; 降ったそうだ = I hear it rained. らしい らしい leans on hearsay or what's typical and feels less personal; みたい is the speaker's direct impression. 〜っぽい 〜っぽい = has a ~ tendency / -ish (子供っぽい = childish, often a flaw); みたい = resembles / seems like (子供みたい = like a child). Tendency vs resemblance.
See 〜みたい in real sentences
Jengo shows 〜みたい the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.
Study it in JengoSources Compiled from published Japanese grammar references.